3 DEDICATED With esteem and affection to The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore and to the Clergy of the Diocese, past and present, Together with the faithful Laity, whose friendship and loyal co-operation I have enjoyed for forty-four years. By Archdeacon E. D. ATKINSON, L.L.B Archdeacon of Dromore 1911 Fellow of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Author of Donaghcloney, An Ulster Parish 1925

4 FOREWORD A very few words will explain the purpose and plan of the present little work. It is intended primarily, not to add to the knowledge of the antiquarian and student of history, but to present to such of the clergy and laity of the Diocese who take some interest in those who have gone before them and desire to look to the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged some facts with regard to their Diocese and Parish which may interest them and possibly whet their appetite for more. If this result in causing them to pursue the quest for themselves, the object of this little sketch will have been abundantly fulfilled. The book is divided into two parts. The first aims at giving a concise narrative of the evolution and history of the Diocese from the sixth century till its union with that of Down and Connor on the death of Bishop Saurin in The second part deals with the parishes, of each of which a short account is given together with the succession of clergy, so far as can now be ascertained. Among more modern works consulted, needless to say I have used extensively the Antiquities of Bishop Reeves, who has indeed rendered comparatively easy the work of the compiler of the early history of the Diocese. I am also much indebted to Gosse s Jeremy Taylor, and to the Life of Bishop Percy, Poet and Prelate, by Miss Alice Gaussen. It only remains for me to express my deep obligation to Dr. Jackson Lawlor, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Dublin, who has not only supplied me with the completest list of the early and medieval bishops which has yet appeared together with much valuable information with regard to the Chapter and other matters, but has also most kindly read over and criticised the whole of Part I, and thereby saved me from many historical pitfalls and inaccuracies; to the late Canon Lett of Loughbrickland, who with his unrivalled local knowledge of the Diocese performed the same kind office for Part II to the Rev. J. B. Leslie, of Castlebellingham; and to the parochial clergy of the Diocese, many of whom have assisted me most materially, and to all of whom I owe my grateful thanks for their ready co-operation and hearty goodwill. The image on the front page was drawn from an engraving from an ancient brass seal found in the County of Clare in It was bought by a brass founder in Limerick; and soon after sold to Mr. Ansley of that city in whose possession it now is. The inscription on the seal is - Sigillfl Chr. Dei Gra. Dromoreus Epi. - that is, - The Seal of Christopher by the grace of God, Bishop of Dromore - which Christopher, according to Ware, was Bishop of Dromore in 1369.

6 INTRODUCTORY THE Diocese of Dromore is situated for the most part in the south and west of the County Down, but includes small portions of the Counties of Armagh and Antrim. It is among the smaller Irish Dioceses and was, with eleven others, suppressed as a separate bishopric by Act of Parliament in Since the death of the then bishop in 1842 it has formed part of the union known as the United Diocese of Down and Connor and Dromore. In the early days of the Church of Ireland, according to Bishop Reeves, in addition to many bishops of minor sees, there appears to have existed a numerous order of chorepiscopi or Country Bishops. Their suppression was due to the rise of Papal influence in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and in 1152 at the Synod of Kells, presided over by Cardinal John Paparo, the Papal Legate, the office of Rural Dean was substituted. (It is right to state that this account of the evolution of the office of Rural Dean in Ireland is seriously questioned as resting on no certain historical evidence by more recent authorities such as the present Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Dublin.) At what date the Diocese of Dromore was divided into Rural Deaneries is not known. In recent times they number six, viz. Dromore, Aghaderg, Kilbroney, Kilmegan, Newry and Mourne, and Shankill. It has always formed a single Archdeaconry. According to a Parliamentary return for the year 1834 the number of benefices in the Diocese, exclusive of the then Exempt Jurisdiction of Newry and Mourne, was twentyfive, of which the patronage of twenty-two was vested in the Bishop, two were in the hands of Incumbents, and one in the gift of the Earl of Kilmorey. The same return gives some other interesting particulars as to the state of the Diocese in the first half of the nineteenth century. There were then in the Diocese twenty-seven churches served by eighteen stipendiary curates in addition to the twenty-five beneficed clergy, of whom six were non-resident. Appropriate tithes amounted to 2,977..9s..9d. Impropriate to s..3d. The Bishop s nett income amounted to 4, s..64d. per annum. This return of 1834 was the first occasion on which the religious profession of the people was noted, and a comparison with the most recent census returns of 1911 is not without interest. The total population of the Diocese, including the then Exempt Jurisdiction of Newry and Mourne at that time amounted to approximately 225,488. This total in 1911, owing to the famine of 1848 and the flow of emigration from the rural districts in more recent years to America, the Colonies, and industrial centres at home, had shrunk to 136,576. The relative numbers of all communions at both periods are shown in the following table:- Population Statistics Members of the Ch. of Ireland 50,316=22.3 % 36,810 =26.9 % Roman Catholics =43.4,% 55,191= 40.3% Presbyterians 75,728=33.5,% 33,735 =24 7% Methodists & Other Denominations 1,521 = 6% 6 4,013 =7.9%

7 At the present day (1911), including the former Exempt Jurisdiction, the benefices number thirty-eight, with forty-one consecrated churches, served by thirty-five rectors or vicars (all resident) and about a dozen curates assistant. Besides the See town of Dromore, the Diocese includes the important towns of Newry, Lurgan, Banbridge, and part of Portadown, in all of which the linen industry is extensively carried on. This is also the case in many of the smaller towns and villages, such as Gilford, Waringstown, Donaghcloney and Castlewellan, as well as in some of the country districts, where linen damask and cambric are manufactured in large quantities. Though its union with the Diocese of Down and Connor is now so close that not only are they presided over by one bishop, but also have but one Synod, one Diocesan Council and one Financial Scheme, yet the Diocese of Dromore maintains its individual existence in that it elects its own members of Synod, both Diocesan and General, its own members of the united Diocesan Council; has its own Diocesan Board of Patronage, and keeps up its own Cathedral Chapter - the members of which, with those of the Chapters of Down and of Connor (Lisburn Cathedral), form the Chapter of Belfast Cathedral, which now serves as the central Cathedral for the United Diocese. The Roman Catholic Communion was, of course, unaffected by the Act of 1833, and still maintains a Bishop of Dromore distinct from Down and Connor, who has his seat in the modern Cathedral at Newry.

8

9 CHAPTER I. THE DIOCESE IN EARLY TIMES It is said the See of Dromore was founded by St. Colman or Colmoc, who in the early days of the sixth century founded a Church and Monastery on the north bank of the river Lagan in the territory of Iveagh in the County of Down. This Colman, it appears from an ancient Life, was of the race of the Dalaradians, a people who gave their name to the district corresponding to the southern portion of the County Antrim and the northern part of County Down. He was a pupil of St. Mochae, head of the celebrated monastic school of Nendrum, situated on what is now called, from its founder, Mahee Island in Strangford Lough; and afterwards studied under St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly, in Munster. He was also the friend of St. McNissi, Bishop of Connor, and it was by his advice that he selected the site for his foundation. As St. McNissi died in the year 513 A.D., that year would seem to be the latest to which we can attribute the founding of the See of Dromore. A pretty legend tells how this event was foretold by St. Patrick many years before: On one of his journeys across the country from Armagh to Saul the Saint was the guest of a bishop. In the morning as he was celebrating the Eucharist, he saw through the east window of the church (it must surely have been Donaghcloney, which looks right up the river towards Dromore about four miles distant, a gathering of angels hovering over a neighbouring valley) and announced to his host that God had committed him and his flock to the pastoral rule of a Bishop, who should thereafter found his monastery on that spot. There is a similar prophecy in the life of Colum Cille. Of the early coarbs or successors of St. Colman but little is known. Twelve names only of officials of the Abbey are recorded in the Annals, occurring between the years 841 and 1159, and of these but two are described as bishops (one being bishop and abbot ), three merely as abbots, three as herenachs or stewards, and four as coarbs or successors of the founder. The entries, as they appear in the Annals of the Four Masters, are as follows: Ceallach, son of Caithghenn, Abbot of DruimMor in Uibh-Eachach (Iveagh), died Cormac, Abbot of Druim-Mor, died Maelmaedhog, Abbot of Druim-Mor, died Maelbrighde, son of Cathasach, Bishop and Abbot of Druim-Mor Mocholmog, died Tuathal, son of Maelrubha, successor of Finnian and successor of Mocholmog, a wise man and governor, died. (The Abbey of Movilla, or possibly Clonard, both having been founded by St. Finnian, were apparently united at this period with that of Dromore under one head.) Cennfaeladh, Airchinneach (Herenach) of Druim-Mor Mocholmog, died Domhnall, son of Maelseachainn, son of Domhnail, successor of Finnen and Mocholmog, died Ceallach Ua Cleircein, successor of Finnen and Mocholmog, died ( with others) on their pilgrimage to Ardmacha Aughene Mac-an-Bheaganaigh, successor of Mocholmog and Comghall, died. (The Abbot of Bangor was successor of St. Comghall) Rigan, Bishop of Dromore, quinto idus Julil in pace quiebit. (Annals of Ulster; not in Four Masters.) 1 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

10 Gillachrist Mac-an-Bheacanaigh, Airchinneach (Herenach or Steward) of Druim- Mor, died Angen, Herenach of Dromamoyr. (Charter of Newry) No doubt, at Dromore, as in all the early Irish foundations, the abbot, whether in episcopal orders or not, exercised supreme rule over the community as successor of its founder, while the bishop when not identical with him, was restricted to such purely episcopal functions as ordaining and the like. There was in early times in the present Diocese at least two known episcopal churches besides the foundation of St. Colman. These were Donaghmore, founded in the fifth century by St. Mac Erc, a brother of St. Mochae, the teacher of Colman, who presided over it as bishop; and Maghera, founded a little later by St. Domangart or Donard, who was also of episcopal rank. To these Bishop Reeves would have added a third, since in his Antiquities of Down and Connor and Dromore he identified the modern Magheralin with the abbey and episcopal seat of Linnduachaill or Lann-mocholmog (See note 1 Magheralin Chapter 2 Part 2). But this abbey has been, as we think, conclusively shewn by Mr. Leslie in his History of Kilsaran, to have been situated, not in the County Down, but near the mouth of the river Glyde in County Louth; while Magheralin, as will appear later, more probably represents the ancient LannRonain. (see note Magherlin Chapter 2 Part 2) These minor sees, how many they may have been - and their jurisdiction probably never extended beyond the walls of the abbey or church with which they were connected - eventually became merged under the jurisdiction of the successors of St. Colman of Dromore, though the permanence of even his see in those early days appears rather doubtful. The Synod of Rathbreasil in 1110 A.D. was the first systematic effort to mark out the boundaries of the Irish dioceses. Dromore is not mentioned in its Acts, and it was undoubtedly intended to unite it together with Down under the jurisdiction of the See of Connor. This arrangement, a strange anticipation of the modern union, if ever effectively recognized cannot have lasted long, and about the year 1190 we find among the attestations of a charter of John de Courcy the name of Uroneca episcopus de Uvehe, i.e., O Roney, Bishop of Iveagh, or Dromore. The use of the territorial title Iveagh to describe the Diocese, which was not uncommon at this period, points to the fact that the Diocese of Dromore, as most Irish Dioceses, was to a large extent tribal in its origin and extent. Practically it has always consisted of the two baronies of Upper and Lower Iveagh, the territory of the great sept of the Magenisses, together with that portion of the modern County Armagh lying to the east of the river Bann, and embracing the parishes of Shankill, Seagoe, Moyntaghs and Knocknamuckley. To this was added in 1546 the present union of Aghalee, Aghagallon and Magheramesk in County Antrim. While at the Disestablishment of the Church, the Lordship of Newry and Mourne, comprising the parishes of Newry and Kilkeel with the chapelries of Kilhorne, Kilcoo and Kilmegan, together with the parish of Maghera portions of which lie within the barony- of Kinelearty - all which (with the exception of Maghera) had from the reign of Edward VI been subject to the jurisdiction of the family of Bagnal and their successors the Earls of Kilmorey - was thrown into the Diocese. Thus it nearly corresponds to-day 2 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

11 with the modem Parliamentary Divisions of West and South Down, with a portion of North Armagh and South Antrim. This territory of Iveagh (Uibh Eachach), sometimes known as the Magennis Country, derives its name from Uibh Eo-chaidh Cobha (Yo hay cova), who appears to have lived early in the third century of our era. It was not, however, till the twelfth century that the family of Magennis rose into romance, and eventually established themselves as Lords of Iveagh in succession to the family O Haidith, who had previously for many generations ruled the district. This family, whose memory will always be associated with Iveagh, derived their name, MacAongusa, from Aidith son of Aongus, the sixteenth in descent from the above-named Eachaidh Cobha. As Lords of Iveagh they recognized as over-lords the princes of the house of O Neil, and were themselves so regarded by such families as the MacCartans of Kinelearty, the O Laverys of Moira, and various other smaller septs. The family in the sixteenth century provided a bishop for each of the Dioceses of Down and Dromore, and took a prominent part in Church matters in Iveagh. It cannot be asserted that they were always very loyal or submissive sons of the Church, as the following incident recorded in King s Primacy of Armagh, as well as others referred to in a subsequent chapter sufficiently illustrates. It seems that during a vacancy in the See of Dromore in 1442, of which the Primate in such cases invariably acted as Custos, Arthur Magennis, the then chief of the clan, refused to recognize his rights, and apparently administered the temporalities of the See very much to his own liking. The Primate, Archbishop John Prene, thereupon denounced him as the, pestilent and sacrilegious Arthur McGunissa, captain of his nation, who during a vacancy in the See (of Dromore) would not allow the Primate to exercise the rights he claimed as its Custos, but perpetrated sacrilegious usurpations, occupations, and detentions of lands, rents, profits, rights and emoluments belonging to the See; and though subjected to sentence of suspension and excommunication and interdict, the intolerable obstinacy of the said Arthur was such as to bid defiance for years to these spiritual terrors. The Primate proceeds to declare him a heretic and to be punished as such, invoking against him the secular arm, and decreeing that all goods belonging to him be dissipated as a common prey amongst the faithful of Christ s flock, and promising forty days indulgence to all, who, truly confessed and contrite, would engage in attacking his person, or help to dissipate his goods! In the reign of Elizabeth the head of the clan was Sir Hugh Magennis, of whom the following interesting account is given by Marshall Bagnal in his Description and Present State of Ulster, 1586: Evagh, otherwise called McGnis Country in the Countie Downe, is governed by Sir Hugh McEnys, the cyvilest of all the Irishrie in those parts. He was brought by Sir Nicholas Bagnal from the bonaght [i.e., tribute] of the O Neills to contribute to the Queen, to whom he paieth an annual rent for his lands, which he hath taken by letters patent to hold after the English manner for him and his heirs male. Magennis is able to make about 60 horsemen and 80 footmen. He liveth very civily and English like in his own house, and every festival day weareth English garments among his owne followers. So much for the Magennisses at present, they will come into the story later on. 3 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

12 CHAPTER II. THE EXEMPT JURISDICTION. MENTION having been made of the Exempt Jurisdiction of Newry and Mourne, the present seems a fitting place to explain its origin and extent. According to tradition, St. Patrick himself in the fifth century founded a monastery in honour of the Blessed Virgin at a certain spot on the river Clanrye, which empties itself into the head waters of Carlingford Lough. The seashore and the Mourne Mountains effectively isolate the Kingdom of Mourne This was known as Chin Trachta (Kin Traw), the Head of the Strand. Here he is said to have planted a yew-tree, iobhar (ewer), and the monastery came to be called N iobhar chinn trachta (N ewer kin traw) = The Yew-tree at the Head of the Strand, easily shortened into Newry. This was Latinised in later days as Monasterium de Viride Ligno, The Monastery of the Green Tree - with reference to the evergreen character of the Yew. How long this community of early times in the diocese continued in existence we do not know, but we are told by the historian Keating that a second foundation of the abbey on more modern lines was made in 1144 by the celebrated St. Malachy O Morgair (or Maelmaedhog). This great prelate at first ruled as bishop the Diocese of Connor (which, as constituted by the Synod of Rathbreasil, included Down and Dromore), and after a brief tenure of the Archbishop of Armagh, resigned it in 1137 for the Diocese of Down, by that time severed from that of Connor, but still including Dromore. But it was in 1157 that the community attained to the position of importance it afterwards occupied as one of the richest and most powerful Cistercian Abbeys in the country, through the liberal endowment bestowed upon it by the Charter of Maurice MacLaughlin, High King of Ireland, in honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Patrick and St. Benedict, the Father and Founder of the Cistercian Order. This Charter (reprinted in exenso Chapter 5, Part II) was renewed and enlarged in 1237 by Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, by whom the head of the house was constituted a mitred abbot and invested with many privileges and powers. Among these, it was commonly supposed, was the exercise of quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over the lord-ships of Newry and Mourne - the latter conterminous with the parish of Kilkeel and its chapelries. This, however, appears to be open to question, and certainly to a considerable amount of limitation, for, as far as we have been able to ascertain, there is no evidence extant that the Lordship of Mourne ever formed part of the patrimony of the Abbey of Newry, or that the abbots thereof ever exercised any jurisdiction within its borders, episcopal or otherwise. According to Bishop Reeves, the quasi-independent character of Mourne or Kilkeel prior to the Reformation was due to its holding the position of a Plebania. There were some cures, he quotes from Bishop Stillingfleet, which had chapels-of-ease belonging to 4 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

13 them, and they who officiated in them were called capellani, and had their subsistence out of the oblations and obventions, and were often perpetual and presentative. And where the incumbents had several chapels of-ease and only assistants to supply them, the Canon law doth not call them reclores, but plebani; who had a sort of peculiar jurisdiction in lesser matters, but still they were under the Bishop s authority in visitations and other ecclesiastical censures. Such, remarks Bishop Reeves, seems to have been the ancient condition of the plebanus of Kilkeel. That, in pre-reformation times, the parish and district of Mourne was not, as a matter of fact, so dependent on the Abbot of Newry and exempt from episcopal control as has been often imagined, appears pretty plainly from the following circumstances: - In 1369, according to Primate Sweetman s Register, the patronage of the parish was vested in the Earl of Ulster, and exercised by his seneschal Sir Ralph do Poley. The Primate had in this year deposed the rector, John de Preeze, as custos of the See of Down sede vacaente. In 1388 John Cheene was presented by the Crown to the parish church of St. Colman del Morne. On his death in 1406 the Crown again presented, on this occasion one Patrick Oweyn, a clerk of Meath, to the incumbency. The Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Kilkeel or Mourne was then reckoned, refused institution and nominated Adam McBurne. The case was submitted to the Primate, who in the next year pronounced in favour of the nominee of the Crown, and directed Thomas O Mostead (O Mustey), Archdeacon of Dromore, and two others to induct him, and to admonish all and singular the chaplains officiating in the said church and all the dependent chapels to render him due obedience. Moreover, shortly after, a letter of excommunication was issued against Donald O Ronaga (O Rooney) and Columba McKartan, chaplains, for resistance to the new rector, and Walter McKartan with other parishioners was enjoined to desist from further opposition. In all this no question seems to have been raised as to any exemption of the district from episcopal control, though some doubt may have existed as to which bishop had the best right of exercising it. Thus, the Bishop of Down, who claimed it as of right against the Crown in the matter of presenting to the benefice, was successfully thwarted by the Primate acting specifically on the occasion as custos spiritualitatis Dromorensis Dioceseos, the bishopric of Dromore being then vacant, and making use of the Archdeacon of Dromore to carry out his purpose. One hundred and twenty years later (1526) we again find the Primate presenting Cormac Roth to the rectory and plebania of Kificayll, the See of Dromore being that year vacant through the death of Thady O Reilly - though whether on this occasion acting as custos of Dromore does not appear. Finally, in 1536, the Crown presented Peter Lewis to the rectory of the parish church of Kyllghill, alias Morne in the Diocese of Down, vacant by the death of Cormac Roth. On the whole it would seem that the right of patronage was exercised at first by the Earls of Ulster and afterwards by the Crown, in which the Earldom had merged, but at times by the Primate as custos of the Sees of Down and Dromore when vacant, who in other ways made his jurisdiction to be felt - and perhaps by the Bishop of Down, who certainly claimed the privilege on certain occasions as his. The district was certainly generally reckoned in the Middle Ages as forming part of the Diocese of Down - it is so reckoned in the Taxation of 1306, while of the exercise of any jurisdiction by the Abbot of Newry there is no record. As to Newry on the other hand, we have no reason to doubt that in medieval times the abbot exercised a very real and extensive jurisdiction. But that the town and abbey was not regarded as extra-diocesan we have the testimony of the Taxation of 1306, where 5 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

14 among the churches and dignitaries of the Diocese of Dromore is found the Abbot of Veride Lignum assessed at 20 marks, while in the valuations made in 1422 and 1546 the Vicar of Veride Lignum likewise appears among the Dromore clergy and is assessed at one mark. And with regard to the supposed civil jurisdiction of the abbot it is evident that at all events in the fourteenth century the King s Writ did run in Newry independently of the Lord Abbot, from the fact that in 1335 Roger the Abbot was indicted by Adam Pyesson and William Rede for unlawfully taking and retaining a horse the property of the said. William, and on the non-appearance of the said Roger, the Sheriff was ordered to attach him. It the general dissolution of Religious Houses by Henry VIII, the Abbey was at first converted into a Collegiate Church for secular priests or vicars-choral, under the wardenship of the last Abbot, John Prowle. This was done at the suit of Sir Arthur Magennis, who had been knighted by the king in the previous year. But other influences becoming more powerful or the cupidity of the Court proving too great, it was soon after completely dissolved, and was granted by King Edward VI to Sir Nicholas Bagnal, Marshal of Ireland. This grant to Sir Nicholas was afterwards renewed and extended by patent of King James I (1611) in favour of his son Henry and grandson Arthur Bagnal. By the terms of this Charter were conveyed to the Bagnals for the consideration of 40, all the dissolved Monastery or Collage of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Patrick of Newry, with the town, the castle and all the townlands (enumerated) reputed as demesne lands of the Monastery, the tithes of the parish and the patronage of the vicarage, and all the possessions, as well spiritual as temporal with all their rights belonging to the dissolved Monastery or to the Abbot. The Charter proceeds: And further know ye that wee of our mere abundant grace and for the aforesaid consideration, have given to the said Arthur Bagnal the Manor, Lordship and Castle of Greencastle and the Lordship Countries and Territories of More with all their rights, liberties and appetencies whatsoever. After enumerating the townlands, etc., belonging to the Lordship, a grant is made of the Church, Rectory and Vicarage of Kilkeel, with the three Chapels belonging to it, viz., Kilmegan, Kilcoo and Tamlaght; and of the territory of Killowen in Iveagh, containing seven townlands named: with the right to hold a Court in Greencastle before his Seneschal. A further grant is then made of the Manor of Carlingford and the Lordship of Cooley and of Omeath in County Louth, Also all that, the late Monasterie, or late dissolved House of Preachers called the Blackffriers of the town of Carlingford aforesaid - a court to be held in Carlingford. Following the three specific grants of the three distinct Lordships of Newry, Mourne, and Carlingford, the Charter goes on to specify a great number of very miscellaneous rights, privileges and exactions made over to Arthur Bagnal in respect of all the several territories conveyed to him alike. These included: Free Warren; all Tithes, Oblations, Offerings, Obventions, Altarages, and Glebe Lands, Knight s Fees, Wards, Marriages, Escheats, Waifs, Goods and Chattels of Felons, Wrecks of the sea, Markets, etc. Also Rights of Jurisdiction, Liberties, Immunities and Franchises arising out of any of the premises granted, including Courts and Customs - all to be held and enjoyed by Bagnal in as large, ample and beneficial manner and form as any abbot or prior of the late dissolved monastery, or - Sir Nicholas Bagnal, or any other person whatsoever formerly 6 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

15 possessed of the premises or any part of them, had enjoyed by reason of any gift or by lawful prescription or usage, or by any lawful title whatsoever. Finally the king declares the grant of all the foregoing with all right, title and claim therein, to be made to Bagnal as fully and absolutely as the premises or any part of them came or of right ought to come to our Hands or to the Hands of any of our Progenitors, Kings and Queens of England by reason of any exchange of purchase or gilt or grant or Act of Parliament, or Attainder, Escheat, Forfeiture or Surrender, or in Right of our Imperial Crown, or by reason of any Surrender or Dissolution or relinquishing of any Monastic Priorie, Coledge or Religious House, or by any other lawful right. All to be held by Bagnal for ever in capite by knight s service. Bagnal, moreover, to have power to hold a Court Barron and Court Leet in the Manor of Newry; Court Leet in the Manor, Lordship or Territorie of Greencastle and Morne ; and also in the Manor or Lordship of Carlingford, with power to appoint Bailiffs for the said Manors, so as no Sheriffe Bailiffe or other Minister of us may enter into them at any time (to serve writs, etc.), except for or during default of such Bailiff of Arthur Bagnal. In 1715 the Manors of Newry and Mourne and of Carlingford were divided by the representatives of the two proprietors in whom they vested by will of their father-inlaw, Sir Henry Bagnal. That of Carlingford fell to the lot of the representative of Lewis Bayley and Anne Bagnal, and Newry and Mourne to the representative of Thomas Needham and Eleanor Bagnal, ancestors of the Needhams of Newry from whom the Earls of Kilmorey derive their estates. From the foregoing it will appear that whereas the Lordship of Newry came into the possession of the Crown from the Abbots of Newry through the dissolution of the Abbey in the sixteenth century, the Lordship of Greencastle and Mourne had come into its possession from the Earls of Ulster, through the merging of the Earldom in the Crown in the person of Edward IV in the previous century. Both territories were crown lands, though by different titles, in the reign of Edward VI. That monarch granted them all by the same Charter to Sir Nicholas Bagnal, to reward him for his services as Marshall of Ireland, and to establish a strong centre of English influence among the native septs bordering upon the Pale and separating it from the English settlements in Lecale in the north-eastern portion of the County. Bagnal was not likely to minimize his powers, and no doubt exercised to the full all the rights ever exercised by Abbot or Plebanus, Earl or Crown, in all parts of his dominions alike. As time went on, the origin of the Crown s title to the Lordship of Mourne was forgotten, and because it was granted to Bagnal by the same charter as bestowed on him the former abbey lands of Newry, it too, came to be popularly supposed to have formed part of the estates of the abbey, and that the extensive jurisdiction undoubtedly granted to him in Mourne as well as in Newry was the jurisdiction previously exercised by the Abbots of Newry. If the theory here put forward is correct, the Exempt Jurisdiction of Newry and Mourne which, shorn of all its peculiar privileges and characteristics was incorporated with the Diocese of Dromore in 1869, owed its origin not to the medieval sway of the Abbots of Newry, but to the express grant of Edward VI to Sir Nicholas Bagnal, as confirmed to his grandson Arthur by the Charter of Further particulars as to both Newry and Mourne will be given in a later chapter, but 7 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

16 the foregoing is sufficient to indicate the origin, extent and general character of the exempt jurisdiction. Note on the Earldom of Ulster: Hugh de Lacy was created Earl of Ulster on the banishment of John de Courcy, the first bearer of the title Hugh de Lacy exiled and his earldom administered by Seneschals of King John for 16 years Hugh de Lacy restored to the Earldom Hugh de Lacy died, and his fief reverted to the Crown, on what grounds is not clear, and was administered by the King s Seneschals The Earldom with other royal demesnes in Ireland was granted by the King to his son Edward circa - Walter de Burgh obtained the fief of Ulster from Prince Edward in exchange for lands in Munster. At this stage de Burgh is first styled Earl of Ulster in the Irish Annals Earl Walter died and was succeeded by his son Richard, a minor, afterwards known as The Red Earl Earl Richard died and was succeeded by his son William Earl William was killed at Carrickfergus, and his infant daughter and heiress was brought to England where she afterwards married Lionel, Duke of Clarence. From him the Earldom passed to the family of Mortimer and the House of York, and on the accession of Edward IV finally merged in the Crown.-(Journal R.S.A.I., 1913, Pt. I.) We take the following particulars of this seal, for the block of which we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. F. J. Bigger, M.R.I.A., from the Anthologia Hibernica, Vol. I., pp. 18 and G. Damien Kerr June 2009

17 CHAPTER III. THE DIOCESE IN MEDIEVAL TIMES THE BISHOPS CHAPTER, CHURCH DISCIPLINE. WE have seen that of the Prelates who held the See prior to the twelfth century the names of but three have come down to us with certainty - viz., St. Colman (the fact of his Episcopal order has been questioned but see Chapter 14) the founder, circa 500 A.D. ; Maolbrighde, prior to 972 A.D. ; and Riagan, who died in 1101, and is described in the Annals of Ulster as Bishop of Dromore and of the fifth of Uladh. The next on the list is that of Uroneca (In1177 he witnessed a Charter from Malachy II, Bishop of Down, to the Monks of St. Bega s Church at Nendrum as Uroneca episcopus de Uvehd (Ivgh or Dromore). Irish Charters relating to the Priory of St. Bee s. B. M. Cotton, Roll XIII, 21). refers to Ua Ruanadh or O Rooney in 1177, and after him the succession is recorded with an occasional hiatus until the present day. Of the Bishops before the Reformation a few particulars may here be given as recorded by Ware in his Antiquities, with some additions and corrections by Dr. Lawlor. GERARD, a Cistercian Monk of the Abbey of Mellifont was elected Bishop and obtained the Royal Assent on April 25th, He sat about 18 years, and was succeeded by ANDREW, the Archdeacon, who was elected Bishop, obtained the Royal Assent October 1st, 1245, and was consecrated the same year. In 1285 TIGHERNACH I, of whom we know nothing was consecrated on the Festival of Saints Peter and Paul, by Matthew McCata said, Bishop of Clogher, by virtue of a mandate of his Metropolitan. GERVASE was advanced to the See about 1290, and was succeeded by TIGERNACH II, a monk, who died in In the same year FLORENCE MACDONEGAN, Canon of Dromore, was elected by the Dean and Chapter, and confirmed by King Edward II. Here a gap apparently occurs, as the next bishops found presiding over the Diocese are MILO in 1366 and CHRISTOPHER in 1369, whose successor CORNELIUS died about Of these Bishops Milo was threatened by the Primate in 1366 with the greater excommunication for impeding the Primate s commissaries in holding a Metropolitical visitation of the Diocese, while Bishop Christopher appears to have been an absentee. (Primate Sweetman s Register.) The papal power was now at its height, and we hear of no more elections, but the next bishop, JOHN O LANNUBH, a Franciscan friar, succeeded by provision of Pope Urban VI. It was not, however, until he had taken the oath of allegiance that he was restored to the Temporalities on Nov. 10th, THOMAS HOREWELL, 1398; JOHN WALTHAM or VOLCAN (Ware) who was translated to Ossory by the Pope Oct. 9th, 1402, leaving behind him a great character for his virtues and endowments; ROGER DE APPLEBY, 1402; and RALPH, 1406, translated to Cloyne by Pope Innocent VII, though he does not appear to have been in possession of either See - were all provided ; RICHARD PAYLUS or MESSING, a Carmelite friar, is stated to have succeeded Roger de Appleby (Ralph being ignored) in 1407, was translated to Sodor and Man in 1410, and, according to Ware, was buried among the Carmelites at York. He was succeeded by JOHN CURLW or THOURAS, who made his profession of obedience to the Archbishop of Armagh on Jan. 4th, 1410, and eight years later of obedience to the Archbishop of Armagh on Jan. 4th, 1410, and eight years later apparently resigned and retired to England. NICHOLAS 9 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

18 WARTRE, a Franciscan friar, was provided as his successor by Pope Martin V on the 17th March, 1419; and he in his turn was succeeded by MARK, 1424; and JOHN, 1425; THOMAS RADCLIFFE succeeded in 1429, of whom Ware (who places him at a later date) remarks that as his predecessor had done, he lived in England and probably never saw his See. Also that in a book of the Benefactors of the Church of Durham he is called Master Thomas Radcliffe, Bishop of Dromore and Suffragan of Durham. DAVID CHIRBURY, a Carmelite friar, was provided in 1431, and consecrated at Rome. According to Ware he was buried at Ludlow in Shropshire in a monastery of his own order, leaving behind him the record of a Prelate renowned for his piety, learning, and knowledge of Divinity. THOMAS SCROPE succeeded in a native of Bradley in Leicestershire, at first a Benedictine monk and afterwards a Carmelite. He had lived an eremitical life for twenty years, and was appointed to the See of Dromore by provision of Pope Eugene IV. He is said to have been conspicuous both for his virtue and learning. According to Leland he was in great favour with the Knights of Rhodes, having been employed as legate to them by Pope Eugene, whose particular countenance he had, and to whom he dedicated some historical pieces concerning the affairs of the Carmelites, and was in no less esteem at Rome. He is said after this to have returned to his bishopric, but could not live long in peace with the Irish, so resigned, left Ireland, and returned to Norwich where he took service under the Bishop. He bore a high character for liberality and disinterestedness: Whatever he received out of his revenues he bestowed among the poor, or laid out on pious uses. He lived to extreme old age, and died and was buried at Lowestoft in Suffolk in (Ware) The See was now vacant for a number of years and was then nominally filled by THOMAS, 1450; DONAT OHENDUA (O Hand), 1455; RICHARD MYSSIN, 1457 ; WILLIAM EGREMOND, 1463 ; DENIS; JOHN HERLIE, 1476; and YVO GUILLEN BRITO, 148o; GEO. BRAUN was provided in 1483; GALEANTIUS in 1504; and JOHN BAPTIST in Of these, with the exception of Egremond and Braun, little or nothing is known. Egremond appears (Stubbs Reg. Sac. Anglican) to have been Suffragan of York from the year of his provision to Dromore - till 1501 he was also Rector of All Saints in the Pavement at York from 1489 to 1502, and was buried in the Minster. George Braun or de Brana, we are informed by Ware, was a Greek, a native of Athens, and was Procurator and Administrator of Indulgences granted to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Saxia, or the Saxon street in Rome, and to the Benefactors of that House he was also Procurator for building a new Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Ireland as a member of that in Rome. After nominally filling the See of Dromore for sixteen years, he was translated to that of Clogher by Pope Alexander VI in Few of these later Bishops ever resided in, or probably even visited their See. This is apparent from a letter which Octavian de Palatio, Archbishop of Armagh wrote in the year 1508 to King Henry VII, praying him to recommend one Arthur Magennis, Bachelor of the Common Law, to the Pope for his promotion to the See of Dromore, beynge in my provynce of Ardmagh amonge wilde Iryshmen. In this letter he tells the King that he had with pressing instances prevailed on him (Magennis) to sue for the said bishopric, whereof the Frutes, Rents and Provenues, as well spiritual as temporal, extend not above the sum of 4O of the coin of this your land of Ireland, which is less in the third part than the coin and that for the expense and poverty of the same, the See is void and desolate, and almost extincted these twenty winters last past and more, inasmuch as 10 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

19 none will own the said bishopric, or abide thereupon. Notwithstanding this letter, Arthur Magennis did not get the See, which seems to have continued practically vacant for three years more, when THADY O REILLY (Ua Raghallaigh), a Franciscan friar was provided to the bishopric by Pope Julius II on April 30th, He was at least an Irishman, as were also his successors QUINTIN COGLEY, a Dominican friar, advanced to the See in 1536, and ROGER McHUGH (MacAedh) provided June 16th, The last bishop to be appointed prior to the changes which attended the Reformation was also an Irishman, Arthur Magennis, who apparently was appointed by the Pope, as on the 10th May, 1550, he had a pardon under the Great Seal for having received the Pope s Bull and for other misdemeanours, and upon taking the Oath of Allegiance was confirmed by King Edward VI. It will be seen by the foregoing that the See of Dromore was in early times the reverse of wealthy. In the Ecclesiastical Taxation of 1506 the income of the bishop is estimated at but 20 marks, and in 1508 we have the pathetic letter of the Primate to the King relating its void and desolate condition through its poverty - its revenues being less than 40 a year. Further evidence to the same fact is found in the Dispensation of Pope Eugene IV to Bishop Thomas Radclyff in 1437 to hold a benefice in commendam with his See, and in the following petition, presented him 1511 by Bishop Thady O Reilly to Pope Julius II, who had recently provided him to the See of Dromore-which latter throws moreover a most curious light upon Church matters in Ireland at the time. The Bishop in it represents that the revenues of his See were so slender that for twenty years before his time no one could he found willing to preside over it as bishop - that he had consented to accept this bishopric through regard for and at the prayer of a certain temporal lord; he prayed then in order that he might be enabled to live as befitted his position, that the Abbey of Assaroe (in Donegal), which he asserted to be then so long Canonically vacant that the right of collating to it had lapsed to the Apostolic See, but was in undue possession of Donald Obuyguyll (O Boyle) might be united to the See of Dromore as long as he shall be bishop there. To this the Pope complacently responded by issuing a Bull directing the prior of St. Patrick s, Dio. of Clogher, and two Canons of Raphoe - the diocese in which Assaroe was situated - or any one or two of them, to cite those interested in the proposed union including Donald O Boyle, and should they find the Abbey canonically vacant, to remove Donald and to unite it to the episcopal mensa of Dromore so long as Thady should be bishop there. (An. Hib., p. 284) There is thus no doubt that on account of its poverty the See was at this time frequently vacant for considerable periods, during which the Diocese was administered by the Primate for the time being. It was for the same reason, doubtless, that during the same period not a few of the bishops who were appointed were practically absentees and lived for the most part, if not entirely in England, where they occupied probably more lucrative, albeit subordinate positions in the English Church. Thus John Curiw, Bishop of Dromore, in 1418 resigned, or as Sir James Ware suggests, forsook his bishopric to go in quest of other preferment, and in 1420 was appointed his Suifragan by the Archbishop of Canterbury; Thomas Scrope, Bishop of Dromore in 1434, was Vicar- General under the Bishop of Norwich; Thomas Radcliffe, Bishop of Dromore in 1419, was at the same time suffragan to the Bishop of Durham; while William Egremond, Bishop in 1500, became suffragan Bishop of York. Even in the seventeenth century, owing partly to the misappropriations of Bishop Todd, to be mentioned later, the revenues of the See were by no means large, amounting, 11 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

20 according to Bishop Buckworth s return in 1622, to but 17..3s..8d. per annum. It is therefore not surprising that on two occasions during that century it was temporarily annexed to Down and Connor. Thus we find that it was held in commendam with that of Down and Connor by Bishop Todd above-named, the first bishop appointed after the Reformation, who resigned in Again, in 1661, the administration of the Diocese was granted by the King to the illustrious Jeremy Taylor to hold together with the bishopric of Down and Connor, which union continued until his death in Young indeed in his Tour in Ireland III 1776 describes Dromore and Ossory as the two poorest bishoprics in Ireland. Their poverty was now, however, only relative, as in each case the income of the bishop amounted to 2,00O a year; and by the first half of the nineteenth century the property of the See had so far increased in value that in 1833 its revenues amounted to 4, s..0d, per annum. Thus it was by no means on account of its poverty that its final annexation to the See of Down and Connor was decreed. THE CHAPTER. At what precise time or in what way a Cathedral Chapter was evolved from the community founded by St. Colman does not appear. The first reference to one is in 1240, upon the conclusion of a controversy between it and the Abbot of Viride Lignum or Newry. Each church claimed to be the Cathedral of the Diocese; the Archbishop of Armagh gave judgment in favour of Dromore, and his sentence was confirmed by the Pope, 5th March, (Thieiner s Monumenta, 42.) The earliest mention of an Archdeacon is in 1244, when Archdeacon Andrew became bishop. The first Dean whose name has come down to us is Patrick, Dean of the Church of St. Colman of Dromore in At whatever time it may have been established, it is clear that up to the time of the Reformation the Capitular body consisted of a Dean, Archdeacon, and several Canons, of whose numbers we cannot speak decidedly. The names of the Prebends supporting these dignitaries are recorded under several dates between 1411 and 1529 with the name of the Prebendary or Canon for the time being, and will be found in Appendix II. There seems, however, to have been no inflexible rule attaching specific parishes to the holders of Canonries if we are to judge by a Bull of Pope Martin V., 20th of November, 1422, appointing Peter Maguryn to the Parish of Cluandallan (Clonallon), which is usually held by a Canon of Dromore. The Bull states that though the number of the canonries in this diocese is fixed, there is no distinction of prebends. It provides that should the number of the canonries be full at the date of Maguryn s appointment, he must wait till a vacancy occurs, when, like the other Canons, he is to be provided with his canonical portion out of the common revenues of the Cathedral. - (Reg. Mart. V. an. V. lib. f. XIIII, An. Hib., p. 295). Among these prebendaries there appears to have been in the medieval chapter an ecclesiastical officer known as the official. Thus in the Taxation of 1306 so often referred to, we find the item: The Prebend of Bricius the Official 20s., Tenth 2s. According to Cowel quoted by Bishop Reeves, by the Official in the Canon Law is understood he to whom any bishop doth generally commit the charge of his spiritual jurisdiction, but in our Statutes and Canon Law signifies him whom the Archdeacon substituteth in the executing of his jurisdiction. In 1442 the office was held by John McGynd as in that year the Primate secured to John McGynd Canon and Official of Dromore, to hold to him and to his heirs free from all disturbance by rectors or other persons, the stone tower which the latter had newly built within the cemetery of the 12 G. Damien Kerr June 2009

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